1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to small array microphone beamforming, and in particular to a broadside small array microphone beamforming apparatus with a narrow beam facing a near-end talker.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many communication system and voice recognition devices are designed for use in noisy environments. Examples of such applications include communication and/or voice recognition in cars or mobile environments (e.g., on street). For these applications, the microphones in the system pick up not only the desired voice but also noise as well. The noise can degrade the quality of voice communication and speech recognition performance if it is not dealt with in an effective manner.
Noise suppression is often required in many communication systems and voice recognition devices to suppress noise to improve communication quality and voice recognition performance. Noise suppression may be achieved using various techniques, which may be classified as single microphone techniques and array microphone techniques.
Thus, effective suppression of noise in communication system and voice recognition devices is desirable.